isopropyl alcohol for lenses?
 

hello all.

I need to clean lenses in my 5D and HVX...not dust..more like finger smuges and stuff that wont come out with air...so, I have 99.953% isopropyl alcohol at home and was wondering if this will be better than using water...since i don't have proper lense cleaning fluid at home nor able to get one soon....?????

thanks a lot.

No I wouldn't if I were you, it might take off any coating.

A lens cloth would be fine or a lens pen which has the right kind of 'gentle' solution in it.

Avey

and if not?
 

so, if i don't have the "gentle solution" that is ideal for the job..what is the second best choice?

water?
the 100% isopropyl alcohol?
a mix of the alcohol with water?
nothing?


thanks..

A dry lens cloth is all I ever use Osmany.


Avey

Any good camera store should have lens cleaning solutions, along with a micro-fibre lens cleaning cloth. Personally, I use a wet solution from the Schneider lens folks, along with a bulb-blower (to remove large dust/dirt particles) and a micro-fibre lens cleaning cloth. Also, where possible, I also use a clear glass (or other) filter in front of the lens.

A little breath on the front lens element and use a micro fiber cloth in circular movements.

I second that. The best way to clean any lens.

99.9% isopropyl alcohol is fine. Modern lenses have very tough coatings. I'd be far more concerned about making sure that any grit is off the lens surface first, and that the lens cloth or lens tissue is clean.

The only lenses I have that have coating issues are over 50 years old.

Just breath on the lens and use a cotton cloth to rub away smudges. If you don't have or want to buy a lens cloth a clean cotton t-shirt would be fine. Make sure its cotton tho because other cloth materials can be abrasive. A trick I learned from my father.

got it
 

yes..breath and proper cloth did a very good job....amazing...later i'll get some lense cleaning solution...but for now it looks good.

thank you all for nice feed back..

peace

O

I always avoided alcohol on the lenses myself because the "coating" it had a tendancy to look/act oiley as if it was an oil based dunk. Then a pro told me that it is much more sofisticated than some liquid substance smeared on the lens, and they were Right. the coating wasnt about to fall off because alcohol cleanings. i still dont like lens cleaning paper at all.


when you make a lens cleaning formula, remember to use distilled water, beings many of these formulas are 90% that :-)

Pancro Spray is just diluted isopropyl alcohol. It's right around the 91% mark, which you can buy at CVS or Wal-mart. It won't take the coatings off of the lenses, so just dab a bit on your lens cloth and wipe in circular motion. or the breath and a lens cloth works fine.

Just for gods sake don't make a mistake and purchase RUBBING ALCOHOL - whatever the percentage shown on the bottle.

It often contains PERFUME OILS that are great for promoting skin suppleness when used for massage - but will wreak cleaning HAVOC on any lens assembly.

100% isoprophyl without any oils is the target. You can also use DENATURED alcohol for many cleaning tasks - it's just basic ethanol that's had chemicals added to it to create a HORRIBLE taste so as to render it undrinkable and therefore not subject to alcoholic beverage consumption taxes, etc.

Bottom line, alcohol isn't always just alcohol. So be a bit warry.